DIY vs custom made invites?

Question

Which is better overall in your opinion/experience?

Answer 1

We made our own, and it was a pain, but they were cheap and exactly what we wanted. We get complements on them all the time.

Custom made are really nice too, and no hassle, but expensive.

If you have the money, go for the custom made, one less thing to worry about and they are guaranteed to look great.

EDIT: when I say do it yourself, I don't mean the ones that you buy at Staples, I mean getting paper, cutting, scoring, gluing to make custom invitations.

The DIY ones you can buy at Staples are sooooo easy and they don't look too bad and are cheap, they are just unoriginal in my opinion.

Answer 2

I have only ever seen one DIY invite that looked professional and that was the photo that "the Future Mrs Hubble" (a poster in here) showed us of hers. I can usually spot a homemade job from a mile away, mostly because the paper is way cheaper in the DIY kits they sell in the stores.

My personal opionion is that the invitation sets the tone of your wedding, if its a homemade job that comes with the wording a bit offset and no reception card and/or response card and no inner envelope, I tend to think its not going to be as "nice" of a wedding. However, I am a self aware and admitted invitation snob, other people may not notice alot of the things that I do. But also you shold be aware that there are people out there like me that will look over your invitation intently and draw conclusions from it.

Answer 3

We used Invitations By Dawn and loved them. The problem with DIY is that you have to be careful with size and weight--gluing pieces together is going to add to that weight. You may end up having to pay extra postage on everything.

I am not that creative nor did I have TIME to do that. When I make my own invites for parties, I always have such a hard time printing. The first several always mess up and it's just not worth the effort for me.

A friend of mine made her own and they looked wonderful. On the side she had multiple tiers for Local Hotels, Things to do in the area, a map to the hotel from the highway, a map to the wedding location from the hotel and the couple's at home address. It was tri-fold and all in nautical shades of blue. The wedding was a beach theme.

It was wonderful but it took her WEEKS to get that all perfect plus she paid about 3 times in postage what I did.

Personally for me, I picked which one I wanted and ordered it online. It came and they were perfect. All I had to do was address them to my guests. Plus Ann's Wedding and Invitations By Dawn both had tons to chose from in inexpensive prices.

I had enough stress and I don't think I could have done it myself for cheaper, especially if you don't have a great printer.

Answer 4

It is a personal choice, they both get the point across but really expensive invitations set a mood of ambiance and the DIY ones are great, they show creativity and that you took time to make sure your day was jus yours, if you have the time save the money

Answer 5

I purchased the some at the craft store that you just put through the printer. The reality is that most people are not going to remember what your invitation looks like anyway. That's what my friends who are already married told me. So I'd rather spend that extra money on something else like a photos or videos or the food.

Answer 6

DIY!! That's how my husband and I did ours. I had a lot of people (even those who knew how we did our invites) ask who did we go to, to get them done. I was so happy I did my own. Plus nobody else's in the world is just like mine.

Answer 7

If you can afford it, custom made is great! But expensive.
I'm going for a DIY customization. I found cheapies @ a craft store, but I'm going to dress them up with colored backing paper, ribbon, etc, to get a custom-made look that started with a cookie-cutter mass produced item.

Answer 8

Obviously cutom made is going to save a lot of headache and give you time for other things that may need your attention .... DIY takes a lot of time and effort, and a lot of participation from voluteers ... HOWEVER, if you have those voluteers who are perfectly willing to help, and you have plenty of time, DIY will definitely save possibly hundreds of dollars.

Answer 9

Hi. Well, they both have their pros and cons.

Custom:
Pro....no worry...just submit your information and wait until they come.
Con....expensive

DIY:
Pro...cheaper
Con...you need to "play around" with them a bit before they are just right. However, it can be a "pro" if you like to do this sort of thing.

In the end....unless a few are saved by family members...the rest get thrown away so I would opt for the DIY and save the money for something else!

Answer 10

ours were made by the green kangaroo (www.tgkdesigns.com) we were very happy wth the product.

If you are very crafty and have lots of time on your hands then DIY could be your best option, and definitely is cheaper, but I'm not that creative/crafty and didn't have the time.